Apparatus for charging and discharging crucible-furnaces



E. E. BROSIUS. APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING CRUCIBLE FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31 I920.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920'.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1- E. E. BROSIUS.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING CRUCIBLE FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3. I920.

l ,363 ,831, Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

3 SHETSSHEET 2.

E. E. BROSIUS.

APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING CRUCIBLE FURNACESP APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3. I920.

Patented 1m 23,1920.

\ KIIII attoznur UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDGAR n. BROSIUS, or rr'rrsnonon, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application fil ed March 3, 1920. Serial No. 362,972.

To all whom it may concewa Be it known that I, EDGAR E. Bnosios, residing at Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Charging and Discharging Crucible-Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a side view of one form of apparatus embodying my invention shown in operative relation to a crucible furnace, the latter being shown in vertical section;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same with certain of the parts broken away and with the furnace shown in transverse vertical section;

Fig. 3 is a view of the tongs which are broken away in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the apparatus with the floor broken away.

My invention has relations to apparatus for charging and discharging crucible furnaces. I-Ieretofore, this work has been done by manual labor, and is well known, the operation is extremely hard upon the workmen owing to the intense heat to which they are subjected, particularly in removing the heated crucibles from the furnace. Aside from the heat, the work is very laborious. owing to the weight of the crucibles, which must be moved vertically into and out of the furnace. The labor is so heavy and severe that the operators can only work a few minutes each day, and are paid very large wages for even the short periods which they are able to work. Many attempts have been made to provide mechanical means for doing this work, but in so far as I am aware, none of these have been successful in practice. The operation of removing the heated crucibles requires con,- siderable manipulation of the tongs within the furnace, owing to the different placing of the crucibles therein and also to the fact that the side walls of the furnace are overhung so that the tongs have to be swung at a vertical line in order to engage the crucibles, which are wholly or partly underneath the overhang. In order to effect the necessary manipulations, a considerable amount of mechanism is required, and this mechanism is of such character that it can not withstand the severe heat of the furnace.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and eflicient apparatus by means of Wl'llCh the handling of the crucibles is largely made a mechanical operation, this not only relieving the operator from exposure to the heat, but also of the labor of lifting the crucibles.

My invention provides apparatus of this character which is free from the objections above referred to, in that the only mechanlsmwhich is required within the furnace or which is exposed to any great extent to the heat of the furnaccais the ordinary pair of tongs, these being suspended and operated in such a manner as to be under the full control. and guidance of the operator, j:lvho is in the meantime protected from the cat.

The nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown the preferred embodiment thereof and which will now be described, it being premised,'

however, that various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of the various parts without departing from the spirit and scope of myinv'efn tion as defined in the appended claims. 7

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates an operators floor or platform which is supported upon the four wheels 3, the whole forming a car which can be readily run back and forth on thetrack rails 5, which span a series of crucible furnaces 6. Inorder to have as few parts as possible exposed to the direct heat of the furnace, I preferably mount the wheels 3 on the short axles 7, which are seated in the hangers 8, depending from the platform 2. This platform may be heat-insulated in any suitable manner, as indicated at 9 in Fig. 4:. y i Suitably supported upon the car is a post or column 10, to the upper portion of which is suitably journaled a horizontally swinging crane arm. This crane arm isshow'nas consisting of the Vertical post 11, journaled in suitable bearings 12, on the post 10, the horizontal arm 13 and'the brace arm 14, these parts; being suitably connected; It will be understood, however, that any suitable construction may be employed. 15 designates a pair of tongs, such as are ordinarily employed in this work and which are suspended by a rope or cable 16, which passes upwardly'over the pulleys 17 on the crane,

thence downwardly and around a pulley 18,

and thence upwardly to the point 18 where it is dead-ended. to the lower bearing for the crane. The pulley 18 is connected to the plunger rod 19, of a double-acting power 26, suitably journaled on the floor of a car;

The rock shaft is counterweighted, as shown at 27, and has secured thereto a forwardly proje ting bail-shaped treadle lever 28. The normal position of the valve under the control of the counterweight 27 is such as to tend to draw the plunger 19 with the pulley 18 down to their lower positions, and thus raise the tongs 15. When, however, the operator places his foot upon the treadle lever 28, the valve is shifted so as to raise the plunger and lower the tongs.

It will be readily understood that by the provision of the pulley 18, the tongs will have a vertical movement twice as great as the vertical movement of said pulley.

The front of the car is provided with a hood-protecting guard 29, which extends back partially along the sides in the nature of a vehicle dash. The upper central portion of this dash supports a forwardly proiecting frame 30, which serves as a holder for the piece of colored glass through which the operator may look into the hot furnace.

31 designates a transverse rest bar for the body of the operator, this rest bar being at about the level of the top of the dash. The car may be propelled along the furnace in anv suitable manner. For the purpose of illustration, I have shown a hand wheel 32, mounted on the car and connected by a driving chain 33, with a driving wheel 34: on one of the axles. It will be understood, however, that any suitable driving means mav be employed.

The operation is as follows: The operator stands on the front portion of the platform within the area there which is protected by the dash and in a position where he can grasp the tongs 15 and freely manipulat'ethem. Ev pressing upon the treadle lever, he lowers the tongs into the furnace and manipulates them to seize the crucible. He then releases the treadle lever and the motive device 20 then raises the tongs and the crucible car'- ried thereby into the position shown in Fig. 1. The operator now swings the crane to deposit the crucible to either side of the car as may be desired. He then swings the crane back again, lowers the tongs and withdraws another crucible in the same manner, and so on, until the furnace is entirely di'scharged. The car is then moved to the next furnace which is ready.

The operation of charging is the reverse of discharging. By a suitable arrangement of the transverse tracks, one apparatus may be made to serve several groups of furnaces.

The advantages of my invention will be readily appreciated by those familiar with this art. It will be noted that the operator is not only protected from direct exposure to the heat from the furnace, but also is re lieved of the labor of raising and lowering the tongs, practically all the work that is required of him being to properly manipulate and guide the tongs and to swing the crane into position to pick up or deposit the crucible at one side of the furnace. The labor of swinging the crane is very slight. The rest bar 31 forms a support for the operators body while reaching over to grasp and manipulate the tongs. The parts of the apparatus are extremely simple and there are no parts sufficiently exposed to the heat of the furnace to be damaged thereby. The cost of initial installation as well as the cost of maintenance is therefore comparatively low.

I do not desire to limit myself to the construction which I have shown and described, since the car may be constructed in various ways. It may be driven or propelled in any desired manner and-various changes may be made in the motive device for raising and lowering the tongs, together with other changes within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described.

comprising a movable operators carriage and a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from said carriage and having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said carriage, substantially as described.

2. .c'ipparatus of the character described, comprising a movable operators carriage, a crane mounted thereon, and a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from the crane and having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on salt. car-- riage, substantially as described.

3; Apparatus of the character described,

. comprising a movable operators carriage, a

pended from the crane, and mechanical means for raising and lowering the tongs, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said carriage, substantially as described.

Apparatus of the character described comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, and a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, substantially as described.

6. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, and a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, together with mechanical means for raising and lowering the tongs, substantially as described.

7. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform for1ning an operators stand, and a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, said platform having a heat shield between the tongs and said stand protecting the operators stand substantially as described.

8. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, and a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car, said tongs havinghandles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be gras ed and manipulated by an operator on saicf stand, said platform having a body rest against which the operator may lean in operating said tongs, substantially as described.

9. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, and a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, a shield on said platform. said shield having a support for a colored glass through which the operator may look into the furnace to be charged or discharged, substantially as described.

10. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, a horizontally swinging crane mounted on the platform, and a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from the crane, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to aposition to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, substantially as described.

11. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, a horizontally swinging crane mounted on the platform, and a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from the crane, said tongs having handles whichin all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said stand, together with mechanical means for raising and lowering the tongs, substantially as described.

12. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a movable carriage, a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from an overhead support on said carriage, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said carriage, a motive device operatively connected to the tongs to raise and lower the same, and means under the control of the operator on the carriage for controlling said motive device, substantially as described.

13. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a movable carriage, a swinging support mounted thereon, a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from said support, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said carriage, a power cylinder having its piston operatively onnected to the tongs, and means under t e control of the operator on the carriage for controlling said piston, substantially as described.

14. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a movable carriage, a swinging support mounted thereon, a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from said support, said tongs having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said carriage, a power cylinder having its piston operatively connected to the tongs, and means under the control of the operator on the carriage for controlling said piston, said means comprising a treadle lever operatively connected to the controlling device on the cylinder, and means for normally holding said lever in predetermined position, substantially as described.

15. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car, a pair of crucible tongs flexibly suspended from said car, a motive device operatively connected to the tongssuspension means, and controlling means for the motive device normally held in position to cause said device to exert a lifting action on said tongs, substantially as described.

16. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car and having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by the operator on said stand, and means for propelling said car, substantially as described.

17. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having a platform forming an operators stand, a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car and having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by the operator on said stand, and manual means under the control of the operator for propelling said car, substantially as described.

18. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having an operators platform thereon, a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car and having handles which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said platform, means for raising and lowering the tongs, and a control treadle accessible from said platform for controlling said means, substantially as described.

7 19. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a car having an operators platform thereon, a pair of tongs flexibly suspended from the car and having handle-s which in all operative positions of the tongs extend upwardly to a position to be grasped and manipulated by an operator on said platform, means for raising and lowering the tongs, and a control treadle partially surrounding said platform for controlling said means, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

EDGAR E. BROSIUS. 

